zlacker

Words are lossy.

Thinking ambiguity can be removed if you only use common words is misguided. You will get writing that is bland and lacks nuance and you may limit the palette of what you can convey, but even then without a fixed exhaustive definition for every word there is ambiguity in shades of meaning.

For example, what exactly does “common” mean above? “bland”? (writing is not a food, is it?) what precisely does it mean for writing to have “nuance”? and so on.

It depends on overall style, but I generally enjoy writing that thoughtfully sprinkles around less common or even invented (DFW) words. It keeps me on my toes—human memory is not perfect, if I haven’t had to consult the dictionary in a while then my vocabulary must be degrading.

>>goblin+(OP)
> Thinking ambiguity can be removed if you only use common words is misguided.

Overall, based on all of the comments in this subthread, it seems that “facile” is most often meant simply mean “shallow”… don’t use a fancy word where a simple one will suffice.

>>avgcor+761
Thinking there can be equivalence between any two words is basically ignoring all I wrote in the previous comment.

>>goblin+GJ1
Of course there isn’t an equivalency: at the very least the choice of words in the face of synonyms is meant to signal something beyond what the word and sentence itself is supposed to communicate, like “I sound intelligent”.

>>avgcor+on5
Just because you didn’t expect to encounter a word, why would you assume the author dwelled on the choice and consulted thesaurus specifically to impress you, and it didn’t come as the most appropriate word for the occasion like your choice would to you?